Well poop!
She is still cute. Any chance you can find out who the Teen Dad is for your little “woods colt”? Because your maresey is cute, and baby is getting at least half of a good deal 
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JB: this is my best effort in figuring out what she should be fed, guesstimating her weight at ~650 lbs and pregnancy at ~9 months. The Buckeye pelleted concentrates I just give as an extra (well below recommended levels) since presumably the Mare Plus is a complete VMS? and her weight seems OK (I was told to be careful to not overfeed); the vet said to add grain/concentrates once she foals and is lactating so I would have to increase the amounts or use something else.
Caveat: this is my first time doing home horsekeeping = I’m in the learning stage and right off the bat there is a pregnant filly to feed so I’m really trying to figure out diet. Comments welcomed.
Daily:
Forage 17 lbs–10 lbs bermudagrass hay, 5 lbs alfalfa, 2 lbs dry weight timothy pellets, the latter soaked and used as a mash to carry supplements.
1 cup Buckeye Nutrition Ultimate Finish SRB+ Stabilized Rice Bran Pellets Horse Supplement (~1/4 lb)
2/3 cup Buckeye Gro-N-Win (ration balancer for grass hay) (~1/4 lb)
1/3 cup Buckeye Gro-N-Win Alfa (ration balancer for alfalfa)
1 cup Buckeye Growth (~1/4 lb)
Mixed into soaked timothy pellets to make a mash:
Farnam Mare Plus (VMS) at recommended dosage
Emcelle Vitamin E 4 ml (2,000 IU)
Forco Feed Supplement (probiotic) at recommended dosage
1 1/2 tsp white salt
free choice plain white salt lick + loose kosher salt
ordered: Algae-to-Omega - Horse Omega 3 Supplement
Comments welcomed.
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First time horsekeeping is a steep learning curve and a surprise pregnancy sure throws a wrench into the plans! But I’m sure you will do well!
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She’s adorable and should have a beautiful foal. I wouldn’t worry a bit. I’m not sure she is much farther than 8 months. She doesn’t look that huge! My mare is right at 7 months and it’s really noticeable.
Her body condition looks really good so keep feeding her like you have been feeding her and you should be fine. They need the most calorie intake when they are lactating so you may need to start adding a couple lbs of grain a day at that point.
I had a difficult time finding low sugar and starch feed for my mare so finally went with Buckeye feeds as that seemed to be the best available. Ration balancer feeds are fine for the pregnancy- you may need to switch feeds once she foals.
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I don’t think your feed regimen is bad but I think it is way more complicated than needed. You can just do the hay free choice and Gro N Win. You aren’t feeding enough alfalfa to need an alfalfa balancer, the grass is fine. I don’t see the need for any of the other stuff.
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Congratulations. You are going to be a “granny”, whether this was your plan or not. And it will be cute, and you will help to raise it well. And you will love it. And it will be as best as it can be. If it’s a colt, his name is Yessiree Bob.
Good luck, enjoy the ride.
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Feed the appropriate amount of the GNW for her stage of gestation and weight which, according to their feed guide, would be 1.5lb. Most balancers are around 3c/lb, I don’t THINK the GNW is one of the denser ones but you should call them to ask, or weigh it, or maybe someone else here knows.
Her nutrition needs are HIGH right now, so concentrates are not simply for post-foaling. Nutritional needs will be higher once she foals. The GNW would go up to 3lb in the first 3 months of nursing
I wouldn’t worry about using the Alf balancer, just use the Grass one at the right amount
If she ends up needing more calories than that, the UF is fine to increase up to around 1lb or so if you’re using the UF 100. the UF SRB is only 18% fat, so you could feed more, or switch to the UF 25, 40, or 100 to keep volume lower if needed.
then I’d drop the Mare Plus.
Is there a particular reason you’re using Emcelle? It’s a GREAT water-soluble E, but unless her E level was tested low, and you need this form to bring it up, you can save a lot of money by using regular E. UltraCruz Natural E would be $.26/day to feed the 2000IU, and microIngredients gel caps would be even cheaper, like $.10/day for $2000 IU (assuming prices haven’t increased recently for either)
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Thanks, JB and Laurierace for the feeding suggestions. I started out with some magical thinking, that if I just added a lot of diverse nutrients it would reduce the chance of screwing up home horsekeeping but as they are continuing to do fine my blood pressure is gradually coming down. The idea of simplifying the menu is appealing because it takes more time to mix up her feed than to make human dinner. 
JB, I started with Emcelle because she had been on hay only and I wanted to give her blood levels of Vitamin E a boost just in case, to start with, but after these bottles run out I’ll switch to something less costly.
Haha NancyM yeah Yesiree Bob would be a good name if a colt.
TheJenners: yes, I need to contact the seller although he got her off the ranch for resale so might not know or will be evasive but it’s worth a try. I’m just gearing up until in the appropriate diplomatic mood to try to get information vs. just questioning his bona fides in selling a pregnant filly = inducing him to lie or hang up. 
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To be honest, I didn’t immediately contact my filly’s seller/breeder. I mean, I had about six days’ of lead time, so there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot anyone was going to do anyway (if I had months, I might have made different choices). I didn’t know if she would add complication and faff to something that was already far too damned complicated, and I didn’t want to deal. Once the foal was on the ground and healthy, and I was only marginally panicked, instead of a lot panicked, I sent her an email. Friendly, maybe passive aggressive. Roughly, “Hi, just letting you know, H had a foal two weeks ago. Came as a bit of a surprise. Any leads on who baby daddy is?” And a couple pictures.
Her response was, “Wow, that’s so wonderful! You’re so lucky! He’s so beautiful!” Yeah, it sure was something.
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After the birth is a good idea. If the foal had distinctive markings or color it might help narrow things down.
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Ooh, Scribbler that’s an excellent point–wait until the foal is here before calling the seller for information re baby daddy. Teen Mom being ee and minimally marked should tend to allow expression of the father’s color traits.
Did you find out who the daddy may be?
Not if every potential sire is black or bay. White markings aren’t a reliable indicator unless Tobiano or appaloosa genetics are in play.
Yes. Her half-brother of the same age. Not 100% proven with DNA though. There are incriminating photos, however. I dug into the breeder’s Facebook posts from summer 2020, and there were joyful photos of young PREs frolicking in a field. And my filly very buddied up with the colt in question. Anyway, when I asked her the direct question (and she was unaware of my Facebook stalking), breeder said, “Oh, it’s probably that colt.” I asked how she knew, and she said, “Just a feeling.” Aye right, okay.
By the time we were microchipping the foal, that colt had been sold. But BAPSH (British Association for the Purebred Spanish Horse) was happy to take the breeder’s guess. I’m tentatively assuming they have spoken to her and given her a bit of a bollocking as well. She’s very well-known and connected to the organization. The BAPSH registrar seemed stunned when I called and told her I had a two-year old with a BOGOF from one of their well-regarded breeders.
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Really great news though that you’re able to register the foal!
Yes, but as a part bred PRE (the passport actually says PRE Fusion) because baby daddy isn’t registered as a breeding stallion, and needless to say, there was no covering certificate! But he’s still got a BAPSH passport.
I have wondered what the mare’s breeder would have done if she hadn’t sold before she foaled. My friend, who now owns the foal, and I were speculating the other day. Breeder’s probably lucky that some chump bought the filly. The registries don’t look too kindly on this sort of thing, and we surmised that it could be a tricky situation for her if it had wound up being her foal.
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Any baby updates??
Thanks for keeping us in mind! She’s doing well but not showing imminent signs of foaling. Those of you who thought she didn’t look that far along were right. Probably ~6 months when she tested pregnant back in November so she should foal by April, but could be later this month or March.
It’s nasty windy today but later this week I’ll take some current photos and post.
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Any update OP?
